Retro Fitness

I have spoken with in person and emailed [redacted] several times attempting to correct his billing problem. He had come into the facility and updated his billing with me personally but used the same card that he has been having an issue with. I emailed him asking for a different type of credit or...

debit card so that we can update and he would not get any more late or service fees. [redacted]'s account was pulled out of collections once he updated and paid his past due balance. I also sent him an email from our billing company explaining exactly the reason why we where not able to collect any funds, please see below;[redacted] will not allow us to reattempt this card,Effective 10-**-14, [redacted] issued notice that if a card is EVER returned with one of the codes listed below, it cannot be reattempted. To do so will result in significant fines to the merchant. The code that [redacted] returned when we made any attempts on this card is 301 – Invalid Account Number. As you can see, that is one of the codes listed below. So we will not be able to bill this card again at all. Below the list of codes, I am also including a screenshot of the returns from our attempts thru the billing system. Currently, [redacted] is the only card brand that has imposed this, but we do speculate that the other cards will impose this restriction soon. When/if that happens, we will code the system not to allow reattempts following one of these return codes just as we have with [redacted].[redacted] Regulation UpdateIn an effort to keep our club owners and their fitness staff abreast of changes in regards to credit and debit card policy and processes, we are sending out this email to notify you of changes that will be implemented with [redacted] on October, [redacted] 2014. [redacted] is rolling out a new regulation regarding reattempts on all Card Not Present (CNP) transactions. This change will affect Card on File, Manual entry and Club Account Submissions. Please take the time to read through, and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact your [redacted] at ###-###-####.[redacted] – Change to Declined Authorization RulesEffective October **, 2014 if a US merchant initiates an authorization request for a CNP transaction and receives any one of the following decline codes in the authorization response, the merchant must not initiate any additional authorization requests for the same transaction at any time. Continued attempts can result in a $1,000 fine per violation. Decline Codes and Descriptions 303 – Pickup Card301 – Invalid Account Number323 – No Such Issuer304 – Pickup Card – Lost Card304 – Pickup Card – Stolen Card305 – Expired CardIf you obtain an updated expiration date or account number from your customer, you may resubmit the transaction for authorization using the updated account information.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

[Your Answer Here]
The response from the business misleads on a few points. 
1) "Once [redacted] decided to become a member she proceeded by entering her information into our on site self serve enrollment kiosk and checked off both the terms and conditions as well as the notes section (no membership may be processed at any point without the client checking off both) and expressing she has read and understood all of our requirements for membership including our cancellation policy (please see attached copy of agreement.)"
I did not complete my enrollment at a kiosk inside this business. The first time I entered the location was to request that my membership be canceled. My enrollment was completed by a female representative by the name of [redacted] (who is no longer with the company) on March 6, 2015 (dated invoice attached) inside the pre-opening location of [redacted].
 
2) "Upon [redacted]'s first visit she met and was informed by our representative of the features and benefits Retro Fitness offers as well as the facility grand-opening promotional offer of $0.00 enrollment and $29.00 processing totaling to $30.31 inclusive of taxes and the total that has been paid at point of sale as a down payment by [redacted]. As Retro Fitness standard operating procedures dictate, we pride ourselves with maintaining the highest level of integrity and fully stand by our statement in regards to [redacted] being informed by our representative prior to her purchase that our Retro Fitness Agreement consists of a 12 month installment contract at the price of $20.89 per month and carries a $47.03 annual fee as stated in her contract. Retro Fitness maintains that at no point did our representative state or even allude to there being a $60 cancellation fee in order for the contract to be cancelled as alleged by [redacted]."
I was never offered, nor did I pay (invoice attached) a $0.00 enrollment fee, nor did I pay a $29.00 processing fee. As my invoice shows, my enrollment fee is $19.99 + $0.09 tax = $20.89, the same figure also applies to my processing fee for a total of $41.78 to start. Since my form was filled by a representative of the business I responded either positively or negatively to questions posed. I never read any agreement, it was emailed to me for later review. At this time I asked the representative, [redacted] who signed me up, about the cancellation policy and was told of the $60.00 pay in advance option.
 
As for the rest of the response from the business, I understand the need to manufacture points to make yourself seem reasonable and upright. The showboating carried on by the [redacted], pacing back and forth, barely keeping eye contact, and insisting on not cancelling my membership did inspire ire. each time I asked to cancel my membership I received a stupid grin and a different answer, one of which was "$400.00 right now". I think it is absolutely absurd for a business to contact the police for someone who only wants to cancel a membership. And in the situation in which my membership is not canceled, I have every right to be on the property, especially if I do not want to be a member and am being forced to remain a member.
 
[redacted]
 
 
 
In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

I was told on the phone that the fee was a cancellation fee. When I further investigated the matter and reviewed all the emails and bills I realized there was a a charge for an annual fee of 40.41, Which is funny seeing that they already had my cancellation that I was responsible to pay the annual dues. In addition I only came in to pay the money because if I did not they were threatening me to go to collections and I was not going to let these people ruin my credit. So I was basicaly bullied into paying them. Of course there is no evidence of my earlier correspondence because they "Lost" the earlier cancellation letter. Whic seems to be a common practice seeing that many people I know throughout different areas are ironically having the same or had the same issues. To me that is a scam and incredibly fraudulent. I can not believe there has not been an investigation of the practices of this company. At this point I am done with this company and I am no longer seeking any action, But I will let everyone I know about my experiences and warn them of being involved with such awful business. 
 
 
 
 
In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

DO NOT JOIN THIS GYM!!!!! If I could give them ZERO stars, I would.
JOHN, the "manager" is the worst manager I've ever dealt with in my entire life. [redacted], the general manager, should really think about who she's hired and consider getting rid of him as soon as possible. Seriously.
After trying to cancel my membership for 4 months, I can say that this is the worst gym that I've ever dealt with in my entire life.
May- First, I sent a letter as it states online (BARELY) asking to cancel my membership for my fiancé and myself. This letter was "never received."
June **- Next, I emailed [redacted].… asking to cancel it since my letter was "lost." They responded with "I would suggest you did not send another, what I can do is have you reply to this email just stating full names and reason for cancelling and we can use this as your written request as an exception. Please note there is a 60 day notice." Obviously, I responded with the relevant information with no response.
July [redacted] @ 4:04 PM- I called the gym directly on ###-###-#### to get this sorted. I was advised that I had to send a letter once more, but this time it had to be certified. I was also advised that I would not have to pay for the month of August. Cool. That next morning I sent in a certified letter for both my fiancé and myself asking to cancel the memberships and included all necessary information. I also mentioned in the letter that I didn't expect to pay for the month of August as I was advised on the phone.
July [redacted] @ 8:28 PM- My fiancé and myself both received calls from Retro (###-###-####) confirming that they were cancelling our accounts. Brilliant. Because of this phone call, I did not see a reason to keep my certified mail receipt because the cancellation had been confirmed. (What was I thinking actually trusting these people?)
September *- I was emailed from [redacted] Services saying that I had a late payment and additional service fee's from the month of August. WHAT?! My card information was just changed which is why they didn't just automatically remove the funds and thank god for that because who knows how long this would have continued.
September *- I called Retro and spoke to JOHN who was the least helpful "manager" I've ever come across. Let me tell you why...
When I first tried to explain the situation to him, he immediately rode it off and told me to send the certified letter again because there was nothing that he could do to prove that I already sent it in. Obviously that is NOT what I was wanting to hear after going back and forth with this company so much. Therefore, it pissed me off and with good reason.
After prying it out of him, he said he would "look for it" and get back to me within 4 days. I proceeded to ask what had to be done to "look for it" and he said because he "has to look for it." (Does it seriously take 4 days to look in a filing cabinet?) Frankly, I was not going to wait 4 days to NOT be called back and he didn't care whatsoever. After going back and forth and stating that I've already spoken to this company way too many times and it's never been resolved his response was "You haven't talked to me." By then, his smart [redacted] tone had definitely pissed me off.
In the midst of my rant, I try to tell him that I was advised via email that it would be confirmed and then it wasn't. He proceeded to respond with "You haven't emailed me." (!!!!!!!!) I said, "Is your email [redacted].…?" He replied with, "No, that's just a general email address." "So then you're telling me that they were lying and they couldn't do this?" "No." ([redacted]?)
After some back and forth of very unkind words, he proceeded to get my information to tell me that my contract had been cancelled and I only needed to pay for my last month and all would be sorted. Cool. "Can I make sure that my fiancé's has also been cancelled?" "No, you're not him." -- Awesome, thanks for not helping.
Last, I email [redacted] to pay the fee and the VERY kind lady was able to help me and also advised whether my fiancé's account had also been cancelled. TAKE A WILD GUESS. Nope, not at all. Therefore, after sending in a certified letter and being called confirming the cancellation, my fiancé's was never cancelled. Therefore, the saga continues...
So, apparently the only way to cancel a membership with this company is to do the following:
1) Send the certified letter. (Easy)
2) Only communicate via email because you never have proof of what they tell you via phone.
3) Only email JOHN, the "manager" because everyone else is just "general email addresses" who can't help you. (If you can speak to [redacted], do. I'm sure she'll be anything better than that unhelpful smart [redacted].)
4) Don't trust that they've cancelled the membership when they say they have.
5) Don't expect it to be cancelled really... ever.
I really hope JOHN learns good customer service sometime soon. He needs help.
[redacted]--- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

June 8, 2015To Whom It May Concern:
We are writing in response to the letter we received regarding the complaint of one of our members. We have several discrepancies about the statement the member provided you regarding the incident.
A child did fall and break their arm...

in our facility. There were no bones protruding from the arm. While it was an upsetting situation, our staff handled it well. The staff did in fact know whom the child belonged to, and quickly found the parent in our building. An ambulance was dispatched and the boy was treated.While we understand the incident was likely scary for the other children who witnessed it in the childcare, the service of supervised child care that we offer is not a requirement of membership; it is an option that is provided in our basic membership that includes tanning, classes and supervised childcare. Members are not required to utilize any of our services, and it is stated in the agreement that they sign upon joining our gym that they are under agreement for the full period without documentation of a move, medical condition, or military relocation. That being said, when a member wishes to cancel if they do not have documentation of the situations mentioned we could not terminate their membership without their account being paid in full.Following the incident Retro Fitness of Woodbridge has made as many adjustments as possible to accommodate our members, including adding additional staff in the supervised child care area, removing objects children could climb on, and put rules in place that permit the staff to call the parents if their children are not following the rules.
It should also be noted that the service we offer is considered supervised childcare, not daycare.
Management did speak with the member who addressed the complaint with you, and informed them of the changes we made as well as offered to meet with them personally to further address any issues and the member declined.
We do strive to maintain an environment where all of our members are comfortable and safe. The member that contacted you is under agreement with us until February 17, 2016, and based on the agreement that she signed and also has a copy of, we are unable to refund the months she requested, nor are we able to convert her account to month-to-month as she did not sign up for that membership type and it can only be adjusted after her agreement period is over.
Thank you for allowing us to provide a response to the complaint. Unfortunately, at this time we have done all that we can to address the issue with the member.
Should you have any questions or further concerns please do not hesitate to contact management at ###-###-#### or via email at [email protected].
Regards,Management Retro Fitness of Woodbridge

We are fortunate at Retro Fitness to record all communications both in the customer files held on our database and via recording of telephone calls. I already spoke with [redacted] regarding this matter...

later in the day of the first telephone call made by herself. There is absolutely no records of any communication regarding a pregnancy at the beginning of her membership and it comes as both a shock and surprise to hear of this the first time. We have many clients who freeze their membership during the gestitation period free of charge, so to hear the comments that are being alleged regarding a conversation, that are not on record, is surprising to say the least. We are always more than accommodating regarding freezing membership. However more to the point of the complaint, after listening to the conversation and the subsequent conversation that was had with [redacted](also on record) that while Rachel's customer service skills may not of been the best on the day, she was more than curteous at the beginning informing [redacted] that there was no manager on duty till after 4pm and as a low level worker there was nothing she could do to assist her. This did not appease [redacted] and her tone and demeanor became increasingly hostile and aggresive to the point that it became a futile effort in trying to continue to explain to her why her 60 day notice had not been processed. So while [redacted] believed she was correct the fact remained that because she had stopped the credit card on file subsequently allowing her account to be in arrears, and therefore any cancellation request to be null and void. She was sent an email on the same day her 60 day notice had been received(also on record) explaining all of this. So while I accept that the conversation wasn't the best example of good customer service most of the blame for the situation would have to fall on the failure to meet the obligations of the member, something that was acknowledged and subsequently corrected by the collection of the arrears and the required payment for the 60 day cancellation monies.

The problem Mr. [redacted] has written you about has been resolved. Back in July when we last spoke, he was supposed to contact [redacted], our billing company to have his credit card removed from [redacted]'s membership. That never took place. He contacted our facility on Saturday, November 26,...

2016 at 10:50am upset he was being billed. The employee on shift advised I will be in on Monday and will call Mr. [redacted] to resolve the issue.called Mr. [redacted] Monday, November 28, 2016 at 8:35am and advised there was no documentation of him calling [redacted] to remove his card. He told me that his wife is now pregnant and things have been a bit hectic in his life. I told Mr. [redacted] that [redacted] is now out of contract and since we have been going back and forth with this agreement, it would be best to just cancel this membership with no further obligation of payments. He does not have to stop into the facility or sign a cancellation form as am going to cancel out this membership effective immediately.Mr. [redacted] thanked me and I gave them well wishes on his wife's pregnancy.Greggory C[redacted] GM

Revdex.com:At this time, I have not been contacted by Retro Fitness regarding complaint ID [redacted].Sincerely,[redacted]

Revdex.com:
At this time, I have not been contacted by Retro Fitness regarding complaint ID [redacted].
Terrible way to construct business, I am not the only one to complain about this issue and this business...

establishment. Management needs to be contacted and further investigations into the fraud of their customers should be address. For management not to respond to me or even the Revdex.com - something is seriously wrong and should be addressed.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

[redacted],In response to your situation, we have made several attempts to contact you so that we could've helped you out with your situation. As mentioned before, the agreement that you have signed up under is a basic 12-payment-agreement, meaning that upon signing up, you are obligated to make 12...

payments plus a once per year price guarantee fee before you are able to cancel your membership with a 30 day notice as stated in the contract. This can be found under the terms and agreements section at the sign-up screen, one which must also be checked before proceeding to signing up. Without agreeing to the terms and conditions, one is unable to sign up for a membership.You were very diligent in terms of making your payments, and have made 6 payments plus the annual fee, but unfortunately you have disputed the charges for three monthly dues as well as the annual fee. That would default you on your payments and would prevent any further payments from being made as your credit card company will no longer allow the card on file to be drafted. As stated in the contract, should you default on any of your payment obligations as called for in this agreement, Retro Fitness will have the right to declare the entire remaining balance due and payable and you agree to pay all costs of collection, including but not limited to collection agency fees, court costs, disbursements and attorneys fees which may be paid or incurred by the facility.As mentioned in your statement, you signed up online and only used the service once. However, the key word in that sentence is "service". As with your phone service, your TV provider, Netfilx, and gym memberships, you aren't charged based on how frequently you utilize the service, you pay for having it available to you at any given time (in our case, within our business hours). Unfortunately, at this time we are unable to credit you for any and all of the months for which you have been billed. We will be sure to follow-up with you in the upcoming days via the phone number that we have on file for you.

The business has responded.  Please see below:Member came in requesting to cancel on 7.**.2015 at 9:34 PM and was told by a Front Desk employee that he would need to come back and cancel the account with the club manager who would not be back in until the following day. At that time he told the...

employee that he would back in the following day to do so. He was also given the option of sending a certified letter to the billing company requesting the cancellation. I received an email n 7.**.15 in regards to the cancellation and did not respond until 7.**.2015 when I was back in the office stating this: "*MEMBER'S NAME*, I see that you came in when I was not there to do a cancellation. They also informed you that you can cancel by sending a certified letter to the billing company which is clearly stated in your agreement but we have allowed members to now do so in the facility but it needs to be done with me at the club. You not wanting to take the time to send the certified letter is your own choice. The other option I can give you is to send a letter, regular mail, to the location itself. The address is [redacted] and you may put it to my attention. I hope that this option is better for you and I will contact you the day that I receive it and process the cancellation at that time. I will be back in the office tomorrow from 10 AM- 9 PM. I am sorry that you are unhappy but we have a policy that we have to uphold. But sending the letter here may be more convenient for you since you are not in the area. Hope this helps!" This gave the member multiple options to cancel the account but he chose not to take these options and believe that an email was enough when he was informed that it was not. Again, we have a policy to uphold and the member was given options of how to cancel and he chose not to do so and there is only so many things we can do to meet the member's needs while still appealing to our policy. The acco unt will only closed if the proper cancellation procedure is followed.

Revdex.com:At this time, I have not been contacted by Retro Fitness regarding complaint ID [redacted].Sincerely,[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: That is not what happened - they canceled my membership and treated me unfairly, they are lying when they say there were incidents over the years if that was the case why weren't they addressed then ? Samantha L[redacted] is a [redacted] and since she is [redacted] she sides with them not the white guys This is truly discrimination on their part
Regards,
[redacted]

This member has had NUMEROUS incidents in the facility with other members. This was not the first time we had a confrontation with this member. We also have the right to cancel anyone's membership, which we did after he told Samantha to cancel it. We have 6 witnesses that were that day in which this...

member is referring to. Member is disgruntled because he was removed from facility, and not the other member who handled the situation properly by alerting management. The member who was cancelled was not banned from every Retro, simply Fair Lawn. We also have in writing/email that he requested his membership be cancelled, AFTER he TOLD the manager to cancel. This is all on camera as well. This is simple matter of he said she said, by the angry ex-member. Cancellation policies ARE outlined in the contract. Member was also not charged 45.00, he was charged 21.31 for the regular monthly dues, which is NON refundable by owners choice if member breaks agreement. This member has a criminal record, and has been fired from other jobs due to anger/racism issues. This member is 100% out of line, and nothing was done improperly by Retro. This member is angry that he started a fight and many other problems over the years, and we removed him from our facility.

I am attaching paper for [redacted]. the id number is [redacted]. We followed proper cancellation procedure and it takes 60 to cancel as states in contract. She is just upset about the policy in which she was explained both at sign up, at the time she wanted to cancel. I understand she is not...

happy but that is what it states in contract that she agreed. Any more questions feel free to contact me. Have a great day!

This is the firat I have heard from [redacted]. Our cancel policy is that if [redacted] has orders from the military to move away we are more than happy to cancel his contract. However, at this point we...

havent received anything from him. Retro Fitness prides itself on giving discounts on memberships to the Military, Police and Fire Fighters. I hope this helps and feel free to call me anytime.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

Because I was tricked into agreements I have never saw, and I was made believe that I could cancel at any time. The actual contract went directly into my spam, and I only saw it when the collection agency reached out to me, and I searched my inbox for Retro Fitness agreement. What happened? I came into the gym to just try it out and only intended to sign up for $20 a month to be able to exercise. In the course of a few minutes, the person at the counter asked me to come see the manager of the Gym, [redacted]. As I mentioned before, his room was very small and very dark on purpose. During our conversation, at least a few club workers interrupted by coming into the room - to grab their lunch, keys, phones, etc. It was a very chunky conversation. Joseph spoke with me very casually, telling me all kinds of his personal life details. He also told me about all kinds of things that sounded as too good to be true. He NEVER warned about the three days, 30 days cancellation policy, 60 days freeze policy. He did say that if I don't like the program, I can cancel (which was technically true, except he didn't tell me about the 3 days cancellation rule) and NEVER handed to me the contract. I did sign something, but when I found the agreement in the spam, months later, it had a few pages - I only saw and signed one page. I only signed one time, one page - however, I received two contracts and do not recognize the second signature, at all. I had to take every single word he told me with a grain of salt, but I didn't because this guy, [redacted] is a very skillful salesperson, who used very quickly a high pressure sales tactics to persuade me into the troublesome long-term contract that I can't EVER get out off - ONLY IF I AM DEAD. On one hand, it looks like it was my fault, but on the other hand, there are so many illegal moments, including the fact that I only signed one page and he never let me read the contract, making me believe that I only agree to the price and can cancel at any time. These managers are smooth operators. 
I only walked into the gym 6 times, and ALREADY PAID $700 to the Retro Fitness Club. Now, they demand $2500 more because they've added all kinds of fees that I was never aware of. In the end of the day, they'd get $2500+$700 - $3200, yet, I can't cancel the agreement unless I am dead. So, I am writing complaints to the Attorney General, Consumer Affairs, and the entire social media everywhere I can will see my contracts - I'll make sure that anybody who will do a minimum research will never sign the contract with this club. 
 
In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Gym member was refuting charges stemming back from 2010 as she no longer was using gym and wanted a credit . We are the new owners of the gym and took over 6/24/2016 I spoke with [redacted] on 10/10/16 and mutually agreed that she will be credited back monies from July and August of 2016 as we were...

then the ownership. She was happy with the results and is looking to join our gym soon. Ralph B[redacted]

Revdex.com:
At this time, I have not been contacted by Retro Fitness regarding complaint ID [redacted].  I did call them again to inquire about my request, and I was told the account was finally cancelled.  However, we did not...

receive the 79.96 refund we were supposed to receive weeks ago.  A [redacted] was supposed to return my call, and I have yet to hear from her for about 2 weeks now.  I will continue calling until we receive the refund for the 4 months we were incorrectly charged for.  
Sincerely,
[redacted]

member stated she canceled membership online. retro fitness does not offer a cancellation of membership online. member spoke with billing company ([redacted]) several times about issue. [redacted] explained to member in order to cancel membership she must send a written letter to cancel and...

there is no option to send an e mail. member still has not sent a letter. I left message with member to call gym on August 18th at 11:40 AM to further explain. Member has not called back as of yet. Member has been informed several times by the billing company on how to cancel membership but has refused to send letter. If it is more convenient for member to stop in gym to fill out cancellation for she can do so. according to all notes documented by [redacted] member has not contacted gym personally and has dealt with billing company only. the only e-mail member could have sent was a member experience form which is sent to corporate. this is not a cancellation request it is simply a member experience form. this form is directed to retro corporate as feedback. please feel free to call me with any questions as I would like to rectify the issue as soon as possible. thank you.